So I should officially announce that I've started watching TV again. It was a slow process, starting with downloading TV shows that I had heard about and checking them out, then watching the backlog of Heroes episodes my former roommates had put on their DVR, but now the Hurricane and I are kind of scheduling ourselves around which shows we will watch. Sadly was cancelled, which means that there is only one show we've both kept up with that we watch on a regular basis, that being Heroes, but we have started checking out some other shows that have some buzz.

First off, we watched the premiere of Heroes on Monday. Looks like a good start to the second season, no better or worse than I expected, though it's a bit disappointing to see that Tim Kring has fallen victim to the classic comic-book trap, wherein no one ever actually dies as long as they've survived more than one episode. Come on, the brothers should have stayed dead-that's what sacrifice is all about. Other than that, the only complaint is NBC's shitball announcer-I have five hundred clocks in my house and I can read a TV schedule. You don't need to tell me at 8:55 that we're coming to the end of the episode.

Next was Reaper, pilot directed by Kevin Smith, starring some guy who looks like Jake Gyllenhaal and some guy who's clearly doing a Jack Black impersonation for way less money. I was listening to Fresh Air and heard an interview with Kevin Smith and Ray Wise (he plays the devil in Reaper) about the show. Smith said that he was more careful and made a more visually interesting piece largely because he was working with someone else's material (and money.) I find it interesting that someone who has referred to himself as an "incompetent director" before would be willing to take the job. Don't get me wrong, I like some of his movies, but he should really have learned his strengths by now and be playing to those. It's also kind of weird to think that the pilot might not look or feel anything like the rest of the series. I suppose it's always possible, but having a well known indie writer/director involved kind of pokes it in your face.

Tonight was Bionic Woman. I was really looking forward to another good sci-fi show, sadly this is not it. Hurricane was just bored, I felt offended. First major nitpick came about 10-15 minutes in, when Doctor Boyfriend tells his now-bionic girlfriend that she has had "anthracites" injected into her bloodstream. So...he's fixing her up after the car wreck by giving her cancer. Awesome. Soon after that comes the next one-her one stated concern is "what have you done to me?" It takes her at least a few hours of in-show time to ask about her sister who relies on Ms Attentive. Then there are issues with the construction of the show in general. Perhaps it was just the pilot, but they crammed a lot of shit into an hour. This led to amusing moments, like when one of the villains tells another villain, "tell me you love me" and then engages her lip-lock the next moment, leaving no chance for a reply. Was she afraid of hearing him say "no?" Considering the amount of push NBC is giving this, I'm a little shocked that there wasn't better quality control. I guess what the press has been suggesting has some validity: NBC thinks that geeks will watch anything.